The city of Valrona is made up of four general
quarters, each with its own feel and ambience. If you're kind of new to the
game and aren't totally sure what you'll want to do for a day job, the main
hangout is the Azure Dragon, located in Azure Square in (you guessed it)
the Azure Quarter on the west side of town. There you'll find an employment
board and possibly employers themselves. The church and convent of Saint Elisis,
along with schools, marketplace artisans and shopkeepers, and the mercenary
academy, The Brotherhood of Swords, are located here.
Almost any of the job concepts on this page would work for this area.

If Azure Square is just too high-falutin' for your PC concept, then
Sun Quarter may be more to your liking. A slum district near the docks,
with less-expensive accommodations and what could only be gently called
"entry level" work, this part of Valrona can be both more welcoming and
more forbidding. Of the concepts on this page, most could work for the
Sun Quarter: beggars, thieves, medical concepts, religious types,
and perhaps reporters; with some tweaking, the others might fly. A
defrocked priest, a shopkeeper in debt, a student who has had to
scrimp and save every penny to get into college and just doesn't
have the funds for a nice place, a refugee, anybody who has something
to hide.

The bohemian Plume Quarter is situated in the north part of town,
right next to the University of Valrona. Its main population are
students and businesses that serve students--bookstores, coffeeshops,
clothing shops, sporting goods shops, and the like. The main newspaper
in the city, the Valrona Sun, has its main office here. Obviously,
student, shopkeeper, and journalism concepts work wonderfully for
this area. Those who wish to actually attend the university can
be quite free in their concepts.

The last quarter, Pearl Quarter, is the super-expensive part of
town. It stretches along the east part of the city, connecting
directly with the docks in Sun Quarter. Most PCs won't be from here,
but of those who are, concepts connected with the House of Gold (a
very high-end entertainment establishment and floating palace) work
well, as do servant and bodyguard concepts.

If we don't find you and get you an ingame job quickly, if you need
cash, the docks and poorhouse in the Sun Quarter are good places to
earn a few pennies. The soup kitchen there is also free to the hungry.

On most muds, you pick a mercenary concept as a basic, all-around
fighter character. This one handles them differently, however. In the
city itself there are no mercenaries, nor are mercenary companies
allowed to form without express permission from
Duke Severan. All being an unsigned
mercenary means to those in power in the city is an armed, armored
soldier with nothing to do and no allegiances. Duke Severan has not
given a charter to a mercenary company for 15 years.

All soldier wannabes must register ingame with
Valrona's Brotherhood
of Swords. If their references pass and they have the entrance fee,
they will be inducted. Only Swordsmen and Nobles
may wear any weapon
beyond the one knife permitted by any citizen, or armor. Most people
have no idea how to fight. The ones who do, certainly are careful in
Valrona about displaying that skill without
the requisite licenses.

There are two kinds of licenses for fighting in the city-state of
Valrona. One is a duellist license.
This license is given after
certification in skills and questioning regarding practices and
policies. Nobles are automatically eligible to earn this license,
though it's not automatically granted; commoners may earn it with
approval on a per-case basis and will need a Noble's backing. The
license is expensive (price varies) but lasts until either the
duellist dies or does something that'd revoke the license, like
attack a non-duellist. Duellists are basically licensed to carry
weapons and are allowed to use the avenue of honor duels to
settle disputes, rather than having to go through the sometimes
more time-consuming and expensive avenue of the legal system.

The second license is a mercenary license. A mercenary is not
necessarily a duellist, and most duellists aren't mercenaries.
Only the Brotherhood issues mercenary licenses, which allow a
person to carry weapons and fight for the specific holder of
his or her contract. Once training is complete, a Sword's contract
is auctioned to the highest bidder. Once the contract is signed
by both parties, the license is tailored to the conditions of
the contract: in other words, it gives permission to be a
bodyguard in the service of Lady Whozit or to be a soldier in
the service of Lord Soandso. Martial exercises outside the
license are grounds for immediate revocation of that license.

Those wishing to enter game as a soldier should pick appropriate
skills at chargen, but nobody enters game immediately as a soldier,
not even with roleplay points. You
may need to get a "day job" to earn the coin first to get what
you want. You'll be interviewed and sworn in, and expectations
made very clear about conduct and comportment. Soldiers work hard,
but you'll be given good food, clothes, a room of your own in the
Brotherhood hall in Valrona, and though
training is tough, you
get plenty of free time. Once you get done with training (ie,
Adroit in at least two weapons and block/parry), you'll be
given one month of freedom and a stipend while your contract
goes to auction. After that, you work for your employer for the
period of time specified in the contract (usually 4 years).
If you choose to leave service after the contract is up, you
can, but your license would be revoked at that point. You
only get to be a mercenary if and only if you have a contract.
Some mercs leave for the wilderness after that, becoming miners
or wildcat bodyguards outside the
Eastern Cities, where their actions aren't so tightly
monitored. But if you ever entered one of the Cities, you'd
need to leave your weapons off your belt and abide by the
noncombatant rules of the city.

Noble characters will have the option of getting a duellist
license ingame (depending on the application and tenure of the
player, it may be granted up front or may need to be earned
ingame; this is not a reflection of our opinion of the player but
a need to make sure the *player* knows the rules). They in
turn, regardless of whether or not they have the license, can
sponsor other characters to get duellist licenses. A Noble can
have several duellists in his entourage; these people are called
"bravos" ingame and aren't bodyguards, just buddies who can, if
desired, fight on behalf of the Noble if needed. They may also
run odd jobs or negotiate on the Noble's behalf. A bravo is
just a person who trails after a Noble, but the duellist license
means that the Noble can claim bragging rights if the bravo
gets into a duel.

Please don't choose this profession because you just can't think of
anything else. This is very much a prestige profession, one suited
for those who can prove themselves worthy, and the pay and benefits
are without question about the best in the game. This is not a dump
class for newbies. It will take most players time to amass the
backing and/or money to even enter training for this kind of role.
However, rest assured the staff has plenty in mind for our Swords:
skirmishes and wars will absolutely depend upon how PLAYERS handle
their roles and how they work with tactics and training.

Valrona is a
sophisticated city, and there's plenty of work in the herbalism field. Herbalism
is distinct from chemistry and alchemy in that it involves the preparation of raw
ingredients into powders, oils, unguents, and extracts, which the other fields
then use in their formulae. Herbalists do create consumer goods like flavor
extracts and essential oils, which many people use in cooking and personal
grooming. They also can create basic first-aid items and, thanks to their
understanding of anatomy and physiology, can perform medic duties if need be.

I've always loved herbalism crafts and the PC concepts that work with them. Forage code
is cool, and the plants you get are pretty neat--especially if you can customize for
seasons, which our new codebase should be able to handle easily. If you want to make an
herbalist, don't let anybody stop you. Here's what you'd want to know:

* I'll work with you to figure out if you work for a large company or if you're a
freelancer. If you freelance you could end up making a lot more money, but starting out
will be harder. A large company gives you room and board most likely, but pays less.

* Gathering in the wild is possible but not nearly as lucrative as having a greenhouse
or garden. Some plants are really only found in the wild, like truffles IRL. But most
are easily cultivated. Forage code being what it is, chances are you'll find it hard to
get the quantities you need to make real money. A garden plot/greenhouse, though, lets
you grow a lot more, direct your focus to particular plants, and keep quality high.
(Did I mention yet that crafts look like they'll take into account ingredient quality
when determining the quality of finished goods?) However, greenhouses and gardens mean
you'll need land, which is not usually cheap. A company will have its own, of course,
where you'll work. But again, it pays less. So: in terms of income and startup costs,
I'm seeing it be like this: Gathering < working for a group < freelancing with your own
land.

* Cultivating also has one distinct advantage over gathering--less risk of poisonous
doppelganger plants. WHOOPSIE. Gathering's main advantage, barring the
uniquely-gatherable ingredients of course, is that it's pretty much free in most
places. (Note: "most." Some nobles will demand fees to access their land.)

* In either case a license may be acquired to up your street cred, which will allow you
to sell to more people for more money. Graduating from the University of Valrona is a
nice easy way to get the license, but the School of Hard Knocks works too; there is of
course a test (meaning your skill level must be high enough) and it costs money. This
license is not required; a company may not care if you have one for the lower-level
work they'll have you doing, like weeding plots or distilling peppermint oil. But
with patient study and self-motivation, you could find yourself moving up the ranks
very quickly.

Either way you want to go, I'll help you see your vision through. I'm cool with either;
I just want it to be as balanced as possible. Gathering in the past on games could have
disastrous effects on an ingame economy if not handled correctly--and it never did make
sense to me why a shopkeeper would merrily buy a bag of who-knows-what-herbs from Joe
Blow Random Dude rather than have a contract for "3 pounds of mint monthly" from Jane
Licensed Herbalist.

To enter game as an herbalist, pick appropriate skills, then talk to an admin about
where you'll be working. This sort of work is a bit like farming; you can consider it
fairly entry-level for the most part.

Begging is legal in Valrona.
There are some flophouses and charity
kitchens in town, but overall you're on your own there. There are some
crafts and hardcoded commands planned to make a beggar's life more
realistic, but that's in the future.

Organizations ingame control this or that turf for begging;
lucrative begging spots are viciously fought over. Whores and scammers
are other beggar-related concepts that would work in Valrona. Most
of this kind of activity occurs in the
Sun District, near the docks and
well away from the respectable folk.

Reporters cover the Valrona area for
the quarterly news magazine,
the Valrona Sun. The Sun's publishing
officers are located in Plume Village in Valrona, near the
University.

A reporter gets a decent monthly salary, along with bonuses for each
story contributed to each magazine. Scoops may get better bonuses!
A reporter can have any background, but self-preservation and nosiness
are a plus. Reporters can take beats in society, crime, national or
interplanetary news, or combinations thereof.

Players who want to take this kind of role need to be discreet,
energetic, inclusive-style people who can involve themselves in
plots and get others involved as well if needed. Make sure you
have some literacy ability, and sneak/hide wouldn't be a bad idea.
Ideal characters would be dependable and trustworthy; a PC who
isn't, or who gets a reputation as an idiot, will quickly find
scoops and leads drying up on him.

Craft support for farmers, ranchers, and the like may be limited
at first, but there's certainly room for this kind of concept!
Contact a staffer if you're curious about this kind of work and
we'll see what we can do in terms of crafts for you. Concepts
we particularly wouldn't mind are luxury good farmers (herbs,
fancy fruits, etc) and horse breeders. If we do have agricultural
or husbandry-based professions ingame, we'd rather they be
higher-end than barely squeaking by. Your ideas are welcome!

This isn't an easy role! If you are caught, bad things will happen
to you. It actually isn't too hard in theory to steal from most places
in Valrona. However, Valrona's large enough that there's just about
NOTHING you can do that will escape detection. The hue and cry system
is in full effect here. This doesn't mean you can't steal, but it does
mean that compensation-fantasists are advised that thievery is not an
easy role on this game. Be aware at all times of the highly legal
system that Valrona has. Admins on this game are not opposed to
thieves.. just stupid ones. If you play your role well, you will get
the same support the goodie-goodie PCs get. If you do not, then you
will probably lose your character pretty fast.

There are no "thieves' fellowships" in Valrona.
There are organized crime families and some Nobles are even sometimes rumored to be part of
the many illegal activities in Valrona. However, this is something you'll
need to find ingame or RPP into. And you'll probably want to investigate
the laws of the land first to be sure you're on the right
page in terms of your character's expectations and behavior.

"Batman" apps (ironworker by day, Talen-style sneak thief at night)
are absolutely not supported by this game no matter how kewl you think
your concept is. Sorry. If you insist on trying it, we will spank you
with the logical RP consequences of your actions. If you think you've
managed to find the one concept that actually works, talk to us first.
Players may count on the thieves ingame being mostly staff-run, for plot
purposes, as are the odd homicidal maniac and definitively short-lived
concepts like that. The reason we don't really accept these apps is
that we want our characters to be ingame a long time. We want them to
grow and develop. Thieves and cutthroats don't tend to live long. Con
men and "protection racket" providers, though? Those are the bad guys
who last a long time. Approach us if you think your concept is one
you can keep alive a while.

Alternative idea: instead of flat-out robbing people or picking
pockets, think about becoming a con man, a dishonest guard, or a
corrupt politician/councilman. Valrona
has a lot of room for "good guys" who aren't so good.

Assassin apps are accepted only on a provisional basis. No full-time
assassin app will be accepted. Some of the organized gangs may
occasionally employ one of these, but for PC concepts, they are
limited. More likely a PC may moonlight as a hired gun.

Please don't app for an alchemist/assassin or anything that even
vaguely looks like a ninja. You will be refused. The closest thing
would be an Academy graduate,
but these require an awful lot of RPPs
to get!

The economy of the game is based upon craftsmen and PC-run shops.
Not everybody will have one, but we anticipate that most people will be
involved with businesses of one capacity or another.

Valrona is NOT guild-based. There are no guilds.
There is only the
Council. If you want a shop, there is a fee that must be paid just to
be considered, and the Council will decide if they want to let you in.
If you are a total unknown, they may accept you provisionally -- by
asking you to work for a current shop owner or Council member. It's a
lot more flexible and easier to break into, especially since there is
no formal "apprenticeship" system.

Every shop owner in the city gets a vote to allow you in or not.
Each Council member gets two votes, and the Head Councilman gets three
plus veto power.

It is entirely fair for you to try to influence votes however you
wish; it is also fair for someone to vote against your shop idea simply
because you'd be too much competition. It is also fair to "sound out" the
shop owners/councilmen about your idea before applying, so you
don't waste the money; if you get turned down, you must apply again
with a new shop idea, and pay the fee again. In game terms, when you
app for a shopowner character, it is suggested that you just make a
general idea for the character; you will need to appeal your case
before the council yourself to actually get the shop. As a last note,
it is also entirely fair for voters to know exactly where you're
getting the money for your business. Falsehoods obviously will weigh
very heavily against you should they be discovered.

Once you are in, you will get a vote about all new businesses in the
area. It is suggested that you carefully consider how this business will
affect your own. (Functionally, this means that all apps for
businesses will be run by you for a vote.)

People may conduct business without the Council's approval, as long as
they do not have a standing building/kiosk; this means that foot
peddlers are not subject to the full vote, though they still need to
pay a nominal yearly fee to operate.

The Council does not expressly forbid owning more than one business,
but bear in mind that each business requires its own application; if
you seek to operate, or own a controlling interest in, more than one
business, you will very likely be seen as attempting to gain a
monopoly, and you will likely be voted down.

As long as you have business managers ingame and the money to
afford it, you may invest in however many shops you like; the
administrators will assess the return on those investments.
Choose wisely! And be aware that competition can sometimes mean
the death of an investment.

Priests/acolytes of Haran are great
choices for those who may not be
familiar with the game. The Haranite faith is very similar to the Earth
system called Catholicism, though there are notable differences. Should
you wish to become a priest or acolyte, it is expected that you RP
priest/acolyte sorts of things (performing religious services and
confession, praying, doing acolyte duties like cleaning the kitchen,
etc.) You will NOT be allowed a second profession if you join the
Church as a cleric.

The Church does hire a number of non-monastic types for its work.
Soldiers, cooks, herbalists, woodworkers, you name it. There's room for
almost anything in the Church, especially in the monasteries or
convents. Since the Church runs the educational system, there are
even spots for schoolteachers!

Neither the Cultists,
the Machinists, the
Sernians, nor the
Flameholdanmustikae are open
for players at this time. To become a cleric of Haran, you will
need to enter game as a pre-acolyte, and apply for the position you
wish. You'll go through a period of instruction, then be sworn in
and set to various duties. Perform these well, and you will in
time be made a priest and set to more advanced duties with one of
the several churches in and around Valrona.
Perform THOSE well,
and you could go straight to a bishopric or more.

The University of Valrona
has a huge demand for student and employee
concept PCs. Students are almost always of upper-class or Noble
background; employees can be anything lower- to middle-class. Students
declare majors and are expected to graduate and do something with their
lives within 4 to 6 years. Majors common here are things like Classical
Literature, History, Drafting and Architecture, Classical Medicine
(read: Medicine in Primitive Settings), Archaeology (one of the best
Arch departments in the entire Empire), and Astronomy. There are also
majors in Economics, Fine Arts, and Agriculture/Forestry. The athletics
programs here are excellent, with everything from Cross-Country Running
to Quintzel (the team here, the Valrona
Burgundies, are high-ranked).

Occasionally positions open for Quintzel players. This is a
fantastic opportunity to show off your stuff. Quintzel players are
sports heroes, with their own unusual set of obligations and
restrictions.

This is an excellent concept for an experienced player who wants a
background that'll let his playtimes be somewhat sporadic, or who isn't
sure where he might land in the game's tapestry quite yet. Noble
youths from out of the area, even from within the
Perimeter, would most likely be
found here, as would non-Sciallan characters.

Chemists exist to take raw ingredients, both once-living and
never-living, and turn them into useful substances. Chemists work in
everything from perfumes to healing salves to metal polishes to
industrial solvents and dyes. When you declare this as your occupation,
you'll be asked to select a specialization. Almost anything that you
can imagine will fit here--cosmetics and hair preparations, incenses
and perfume, industrial applications, healing stuff, even the creation
of dyes and paints. Whatever you decide, you'll be expected to keep
more or less to that specialization unless you seek outside training to
obtain another specialization. A specialization takes 1 IC year of
study (2 if you're not devoting yourself to it full-time). Once you get
your specialization, you'll get a marker of accomplishment (a plaque or
certificate, whatever your instruction source issues) and an
administrator will open the new crafts to you.

As you can see, this is a demanding and intellectually exhausting
path to take, but an experienced PC who can handle multiple demands
will find this a very rewarding path to take. Chemists are much
regarded in society--the frontier folk think they're magical. They are
also asked to be present for extensive archaeological digs and are
consulted by physicians for assistance. A chemist PC can get into a lot
of RP with a lot of talented people if he wishes.

This category comprises everything from field medics with the
military to the apothecaries who buy chemists' and herbalists'
preparations and give them out to the sick and needy, on up to the
hand-picked, private physicians of the highest Nobility. You can get
into as little or as much trouble as you like with this concept; pick a
specialization and you're off. Most of the time you'll be applying for
an open position that's been advertised ahead of time on our employment
boards, or filling a role we've set up already.
Valrona, being very
civilized, definitely has room for doctors and medics. Depending on
your specialization you may see combat with this role, but of course
Duke Severan's private doctor won't be gallivanting about in hostile
territory!

To become a doctor or medic, you'll enter game as a post-graduate
student or the like, with very minimal skills, and be assigned a
position that'll help you develop your skills. In time you'll be
moving to other duties and assignments at your own discretion.
Roleplay points are required for these positions.

This is a broad category indeed. Pick a specialization--singing,
dancing, painting and drawing, sculpture, mosaic-making, or ask us if
you have something entirely else in mind. Artists can be either
patroned, with a wealthy Councilman or Noble bankrolling their efforts,
or can be freelance, as is the case for most popular musicians.
Sometimes a musician can get very popular, moving from tavern to tavern
singing and plying his trade, with some becoming the equivalent of rock
stars. Painters and sculptors often have a patron, and if they don't,
they often strive for one even though this places limits on what they
create and where they can sell it.

If no roles are listed for this type of concept, you're welcome
to enter game with it anyway, but bear in mind that it can be
hard to make a good living with this concept.

Players wishing to directly impact the game can apply for open
roles in various government offices. Tax assessors and collectors,
defense lawyers, investigators, and others are all roles that'll
get you out into the mix of RP fast. These concepts are only given to
players who have proven themselves capable of IC and OOC discretion.

Lawyers particularly are a role that can be very rewarding.
Defending criminal PCs and trying to get them the best sentences
possible can be a very fun role, and it'll get you rubbing shoulders
with the highest-ranked PCs of the game. You can get your PC into the
University of Valrona and from
there get into criminal cases and other
fun situations. If you think this is somewhere you want to head, please
talk to a staffer! We'll help you write a concept that'll get you
into play on the ground level, so you can develop your skills and
gain the political clout you'll need to advance.

Bear in mind that city representatives are also needed. Each
quarter of Valrona has 3 representatives
that report to a Councilman.
These representatives present requests for new laws or requests to
modify existing ones, and provide valuable input regarding citizens'
desires about proposed and existing taxes and laws.